ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
May 27, 2004 – 2:00pm
Minutes
Attendees:
Dr. Paul Cuddy, Tom Brenneman, Tom Sandreczki, Forrest Weddle, Dr. Joan Dean, Stephanie
Hill, and Geof Gerling
The meeting opened with Tom B. introducing Dr. Cuddy as the new Chairman of ITC. Dr. Cuddy
explained his philosophy on running meetings, which is he follows the agenda, gives everyone a
chance to discuss, ask questions, etc. but tries to keep the focus on the agenda items. If something
needs more discussion, or follow-up then it will be placed on the agenda again for the next meeting.
Dr. Cuddy discussed the need to clarify the Mission of the ITC; it seems to have changed over this past
year, this will be a top agenda item at the next meeting. Also to be discussed when more of the
members are in attendance, is the appointment of two more committee members. It was suggested that
maybe another community representatives and someone from Hospital Hill.
Stephanie Hill told the committee that she graduated and will be moving to St. Louis, this was her last
meeting.
Tom Sandreczki said he will only be at the next two meetings because Dr. Charles Wurrey will be
back from his sabbatical in August – Dr. Wurrey was originally on the committee.
Tom B. gave an update on the status of WebCT and Blackboard. Tom has assembled the Course
Support and Development Team, but is still in the process of finding a location/office space for them to
be housed. A request came from Nursing to have a Blackboard Development Team member housed
on Hospital Hill to work directly with the Nursing, Medical and Dental faculty that will be using
Blackboard. Dr. Lora Lacey-Haun will supply an office space for this person. It was suggested that
Tom contact the faculty that use WebCT for their courses to make sure they understand how the course
material will be transferred and who will be doing it. The faculty he will be contacting are Pat Peebles,
Cindy Amyot, Julie Wright, and Mary Euler.
Tom B. passed out the Audit Report Executive Summary. This was an audit done by Price,
Waterhouse, Coopers on the status of technology at UMKC. The report came back with some
favorable results but also with areas of security that needed to be addressed by IS.
There was discussion concerning the Memorandum of Understanding that is being created to clarify
the areas of responsibility that IS will maintain when taking over the management of computers and
computer labs from A&S and SCE. There was some discussion about the amount of time it takes to
cover all the details instead of putting that time to better use.
A lengthy discussion about the Modem Pool being discontinued and the affect this will have on
faculty, students and staff. Tom will check with David Johnston, Director of Telecomm, to get a report
on actual monthly cost of keeping the modem pool in place for a few more months. Joan Dean voiced
concern about students and faculty that have left campus over the summer and coming back in August
to find out they no longer have the access as before. Other members agreed with her. It was decided
that we need to do a better job of informing everyone concerned about what will actually happen and
when. Instead of shutting it off in August, maybe we could continue until the last of October. We
should also have the results of the bid that went out to the internet service providers to see if they will
offer a special deal to UMKC faculty, staff or students. Jim Hisle will be contacted about putting
some type of banner across the top of the sign-on dial-up page that tells about the Modem Pool being
discontinued as of a certain date. The consensus from the members, especially the student members,
was that this will have more of an impact than we realize, so it is very important that everyone is well
informed and it is very important that we have the statistical information about how much the modem
pool is actually used and which population uses it the most.
Tom B. also handed out a spreadsheet of the Top Seven Projects that IS will be working to complete in
the coming year. He gave an update on each project.
Forrest Weddle suggested that ITC also needs a marketing plan because it seems there are a lot of good
things that Information Services is doing for the campus but people are not aware of them. Dr. Cuddy
suggested a website with update information on “What’s Happening in IS” such as the new Unity
Phone System and how it will benefit everyone, there could also be information about the Modem
Pool. Everyone thought this was a good idea.
Future meetings dates are confirmed as the 4th Thursday of each month. These dates are:
June 24 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
July 22 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
August 26 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
September 23 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
October 28 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
November and December will be decided because of the Holidays.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm
Submitted by: Recorder – Janet Carnett
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
June 24, 2004 – 2:30pm
Minutes
Attendees:
Dr. Paul Cuddy, Tom Brenneman, Tom Sandreczki, Forrest Weddle, Mike Harrell
(representative for Dr. Joan Dean)
Guests:
David Johnston, Director of Networking and Telecommunications
Jim Schonemann, Manager Network Services
Absent/Excused:
Mel Tyler, Larry Gates, Joan Dean, Jerry Place, and Geoff Gerling
Unity System: The meeting opened with Tom Brenneman introducing David Johnston and Jim
Schonemann. David and Jim were at the meeting to give a demonstration on Unity, the new phone
messaging system that Telecomm is in the process of implementing across campus. After the
demonstration on the features, the floor was open to discussion and questions. There were many
questions concerning the features and ease of use. Dr. Cuddy asked the question that he felt most
people across campus would be asking, “Why are we changing from the old Octel system to the new
Unity system?” Tom explained that the equipment that currently supports the Octel system is so old it
is no longer under any type of warranty. When this equipment starts to fail, Telecomm would have to
replace it with a new system because it would too costly to try to keep the current system going. After
reviewing the options available, the decision was made to replace the old system before it completely
crashed. Some of the other questions from the committee: Why did we need this system? Will our
phone bill increase? How quickly will the migration to the new system take place? What type of
information has been given to the departments/Deans? David J. explained that announcements had
gone out to all IT Liaisons, all fiscal officers and Deans. Telecomm has contacted the individual
schools to set up a schedule of migration to the new system that also involves staff training. The
committee voiced concern that this information may not have gotten disseminated across campus as
well as it should have been. Several suggestions were made to help get the word out to faculty and
staff: voice mail to all faculty and staff announcing upcoming switchover, dissemination of a FAQ
which includes the link to the existing Unity webpage.
Modem Pool: Tom B. reported that the RFP (Request for Proposal) that had been sent to all Internet
Providers in the Kansas City area has been returned to Procurement. Telecomm is in the process of
compiling the information to be put on the website for access by all UMKC Faculty, Staff and
Students. The committee asked if they could get copies of the RFP – David Johnston will get the
copies to the committee. The committee revisited the need to have a banner announcement on the
dialup page alerting users to the fact that the modem pool would be discontinued.
WebCT/Blackboard Migration: Tom B. reported that the Distance Education Group – Jesse Whitlock,
Deborah Wall, and Mary Crosson – are in the process of moving to RM214 Admin Center so they can
all be together in one location. There is also a graduate student, Ling Li that will be part-time. They
have started working with faculty to get the Fall courses ready and have begun to migration from
WebCT to Blackboard.
Developing a Marketing plan for IS: There was much discussion about the best way to get information
out to the campus so they will have a better understanding of what IS and the ITC are doing for them
and the campus as a whole. This issue was also discussed in the last ITC meeting. There needs to be
a major initiative toward marketing the IS division as well as the ITC committee to the campus and the
Administrators. The committee discussed the relevance of the IS Newsletter and how many people
really read it. Dr. Cuddy suggested a website with update information on “What’s Happening in IS”
such as the new Unity Phone System and how it will benefit everyone, there could also be information
about the Modem Pool. Whatever means is used, the committee emphasized it is very important to get
information out. The idea is to - First tell them what’s going to happen, then you tell them again
what’s going to happen and thirdly, you tell it again.
IS & A&S agreement: The agreement between IS and A&S is close to being finalized. This
agreement is covering the management of computers and computer labs in the A&S departments. This
may be signed off on by the middle of July.
Northland Campus: There was some discussion about the Northland Campus expectations of support
from IS. Tom is scheduled to attend a meeting concerning this and will report back at the next ITC
meeting. It is not clear just what is really happening with the Northland Campus. At this point, we
have been told by the School of Education that they are having to move out of the Metro North Mall
location and will be partnering with MoWestern State College in a building out closer to the airport.
But, no final decisions have been made.
Alternative approaches to financing the strategic plan: Tom briefly alerted the committee to the fact
that campus administration is entertaining alternative approaches to meet the IS needs outlined in the
recently developed IS strategic plan. Although the discussions are in a very preliminary stage, Tom
felt it was important that the committee be aware of this new development.
Public Folder for ITC: A public folder has been created to store copies of ITC minutes and meeting
attachments. Please find this folder on Exchange at: All Public Folders/Kansas City/Committees/ITC
Future meetings dates are confirmed as the 4th Thursday of each month. These dates are:
July 22 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
August 26 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
September 23 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
October 28 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
November and December will be decided because of the Holidays.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm
Submitted by: Recorder – Janet Carnett
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
September 23, 2004 – 2:30 p.m.
Minutes
Attendees:
Paul Cuddy, Thomas Brenneman, Tom Sandreczki, Forest Weddle, Mary Lou Hines, Joan Dean and
Tim Cole
Absent:
Mel Tyler, Larry Gates and Geoff Gerling (student representative)
•
The meeting opened with Tom’s introduction of new committee member: Dr. Cole. After
introductions, the meeting began with a brief discussion on the modem pool status. A committee
member asked about availability of alternative internet providers. The University does not have a
contract in place, but that there is a list of internet service providers listed on the Information
Services Web Page with links to each ISPs web page.
•
The next topic of discussion was the posting of minutes and the agenda. The minutes are always
posted in Exchange in the ITC folder, but the committee feels that the minutes and the agenda
could also be posted on the web. It was decided that the ITC agenda would be posted on the web
site prior to each ITC Committee meeting.
•
Strategic issues and planning was the next topic of discussion. The committee discussed the type
of attendees needed…maybe a community leader could be here. Also, there needed to be non-
technical people included and various groups of people not affiliated with UMKC. Strategic plan
copies should be given to Joan and Tim. Strategic plans will be posted on the Outlook public
folder.
•
VPN’s were the next item discussed by the committee. Tom explained the advantages and
disadvantages of the different versions of VPN. He stated that VPN1 did not allow access; VPN2
provides for better access capabilities; however, VPN3 has better network mapping capabilities
than VPN2. The committee wanted to know whether VPN2 or VPN3 was already offered by the
University and why. Tom will develop online tutorial for VPN use and he will create a link to help
A&S faculty.
•
The next topic of discussion was A&S IT support. The committee agreed on the need to strive to
provide better support for the faculty in general and to foster a positive and constructive
relationship with the Faculty Senate. One of the ways that we could help the faculty immediately
is by increasing the assessment capabilities of BB (Blackboard). Tom has already checked into the
cost of assessment modules for BB and had observed a range from $20,000 to $40,000 each plus
license fees. Upgrading will increase the assessment capabilities of BB. The committee also
discussed putting web testing modules online with links, similar to the “Dummies” approach
widely adopted in book form. The committee is considering reconvening the BB & WebCT
committees to assist with the evaluation of assessment modules to enhance BB.
•
One of the committee members suggested that in the future we should consider having an ILE
program team members join the ITC committee.
•
Mary Lou discussed the implementation of new software for online scheduling. She stated that
there will be a new method of class scheduling implemented during the fall of 2005.
•
The wireless response system was the next topic of discussion. Some of the committee members
suggested that a small committee be formed to test and evaluate the system. This committee will
also make suggestions and give advice after testing is completed.
•
The committee also talked about using Windows XP ServicePak 2 (SP2). They stated that Service
Pak 2 is superior to SP1 with the potential for much improved security against hackers. It was
stated that when the University converts to SP2, the faculty will be converted first.
•
A new computer classroom is need for testing and this classroom must be equipped with a wellequipped computer for testing and instruction. The Pharmacy School has already begun the
process of getting a new classroom for testing and they have ordered a new testing computer. One
of the committee members wanted to know how much it might cost to convert some rooms in
Royal Hall.
•
Future meetings dates are confirmed as the 4th Thursday of each month. These dates are:
•
•
October 28, 2004 – Hyde Park Room – Admin Center
•
November and December will be decided because of the Holidays.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
•
Submitted by: Recorder – Teresa Smocks
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
October 28, 2004 – 2:30pm
Minutes
Attendees: Dr. Paul Cuddy, Tom Brenneman, Geoff Gerling, Tim Cole, Joan Dean, Dr. Charles
Wurrey
Absent: Mel Tyler, Larry Gates, Mary Lou Hines and Forrest Weddle
Approved September minutes as written.
Desktop Replacement: Tom gave an up-date on this year desktop replacement program. Funding has
been approved by the Provost. Support Services is compiling an inventory of computers on campus
that are below the 1.1 GHz, these will be replaced first. We are going to a 4-year replacement cycle,
which means we will be getting a 4-year maintenance agreement from Dell on all new computers. If
there are more computers needing to be replaced than there are funds, then the choice will be to replace
to oldest computers first. There will be a basic model but the departments have options to add-on at
the cost to the department.
New Faculty/Staff Orientation: In the past there has not been any IS representatives at these
orientations. It is important to have face-to-face contact for new people. There should be someone
there to answer questions and go over what is available to them as far as e-mail and other programs; as
well as, some of the training classes that are available. Could also give out the phone numbers to call
for information and help.
Student Information Packets: We should get some information to the department that sends out the
packets to new students with up-to-date information. There is a committee, Marilyn Reisenbichler is
the chair, they are in the process of creating a brochure with all up-to-date information.
E-Instruction and ILE Classrooms: Discussed the presentations made by the eInstruction Company –
their equipment uses Radio Frequency instead of the InfraRed. The staff that attended their
presentation was very impressed with what the company had to offer. Tom is compiling a report to
give to the Provost and Student Government to see if there is any interest in going forward with this
program. There were also some questions about the Log-on and Log-off features of the equipment in
the ILE classrooms, Tom will discuss this with the ILE technicians.
Log-on Security Banner: Much discussion about the uproar over the log-on security banner and why
the message was created. Tom explained the process he had gone through and the approvals he had
gotten before the banner was ever placed on the website. A committee has been formed to discuss this
issue further, Jakob Waterborg is the chairman. Forrest Weddle and Justin Malyn will be IS
representatives on this committee.
BlackBoard Assessment Tools: The original WebCt/BlackBoard committee will be re-assembled to
discuss the assessment tools options that the faculty are requesting. The meeting will be the first week.
Next Meeting: Due to the upcoming Holidays, the regular November and December meetings will be
combined to one meeting on the first Thursday in December – December 2nd, 2:30 – 4:30.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm
Submitted by: Recorder – Janet Carnett
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
December 2, 2004 – 2:30pm
Minutes
Attendees: Dr. Paul Cuddy, Tom Brenneman, Geoff Gerling, Tim Cole, Joan Dean, Dr. Charles
Wurrey
Absent: Mel Tyler, Larry Gates, Mary Lou Hines and Forrest Weddle
Guest: Justin Malyn
The meeting began with approval of the October minutes. (All meeting minutes are maintained in the
ITC folder)
Future Meeting Dates: Starting January 2005, the meetings will go back to the regular schedule of the
4th Thursday of each month. Once the room location is confirmed in the Admin Center Conference
Center, the appointment dates and times will be sent to each member. The January 2005 meeting is
scheduled for the 27th of the month.
Follow-up Items from October meeting:
ƒ Blackboard Assessment group – the first meeting is scheduled for December 6 at 10am –
representatives from Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine, A&S, and John Cleek with IS
representation. Dr. Cuddy will contact B.B. Chronwall about attending the meeting or sending
a representative. Joan Dean will try to get a representative from the Library to attend the
meeting. Tom agreed to investigate whether other campuses have addressed this issue
previously and if so, what solution they adopted.
ƒ Identify Items of High Interest – At the October meeting Tom distributed a report - Overview
of IS. Dr. Cuddy asked the members to read this report and, if desired, identify any items of
keen interest to them so we can arrange time for more in-depth discussion at a future meeting.
This needs to be completed before the January 27th meeting. Once the items have been
identified please send an e-mail to Janet with your preferences.
ƒ Logon Security Banner – Justin Malyn, a member of the committee formed by the Faculty
Senate assigned to perform research on the issue of the Security Banner, appeared at the
meeting to update the group on the progress achieved to date by that committee. Justin
provided the latest draft version of the committee’s preliminary recommendations. The issue
in the draft that prompted greatest ITC discussion was the relationship between this Faculty
Senate Committee and the ITC – this must be more clearly explored and better defined – where
does it fit and how does it relate to ITC? This issue needs further discussion and
understanding. Dr. Cuddy offered to contact Jakob Waterborg, chairman of the committee, to
let him know that ITC has discussed this issue and would like more information on what the
Oversight Committee views their role being. Also, ITC felt it would be appropriate to consider
inviting Dr. Waterborg to attend the January ITC meeting.
Meeting Attendance: There was general discussion concerning sporadic attendance to ITC meetings
by some members. For ITC to function effectively this group must meet regularly. The group felt
participation should become a priority issue in the new year and plans to address this will be discussed
with Mary Lou Hines in December
Desktop Replacement: This years Workstation Replacement Program (WSR) is well on the way. The
sum of $500,000 has been approved by the Provost. Out of the $500,000, $50,000 will be held back to
cover cost of special deliveries and the temporary techs that are needed each year to get the equipment
to the locations and installed properly. Tom agreed to create a chart of the number of computers on
campus that will display information about each computer, such as, the CPU speed and the age of the
computer. This information is vital to forecast which computers need to be replaced on an ongoing
basis. Tom also estimated from the preliminary information he has, that it will take an additional
$300,000 to replace all of the computers that need to be replaced this year. There was much
considerable discussion about how the information about each computer was obtained for inventory
purposes. Tom and Justin, described the SMS program, Systems Management Server, which allows
the IS Support Services staff to install updates and vital patches to software without having to
physically go to the desktop. These updates can be run during the middle of the night so as not to
interfere with usually daily work. There is some opposition to this program on campus, due to the
Privacy concerns. There was much discussion among the committee members about the benefit of this
program. Tom estimated that approximately 70% of the computers on campus already have SMS
installed but he recommends that all of the WSR computers come loaded with this. This program also
allows Support Services to maintain up-to-date inventories, without this program the staff has to go to
the different offices and do a physical inventory. This explains why it is so difficult to develop a
reliable forecast of the number of computers that really need to be replaced. A suggestion was made
that this committee look at SMS more closer and consider making a recommendation that within the
next 12 months 95% of all UMKC computers have SMS loaded on them. It was also suggested that
we need to do a better job of communicating to the campus the benefits of the SMS program
There were questions about the HIPA regulations in regard to SMS. Tom said no HIPA computers
will have SMS loaded on them because of the confidential nature of the information. This issue is
most relevant for the Dental School. Campus needs to make sure that instructors understand the HIPA
regulations as it relates to computer hardware.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm
Submitted by: Recorder – Janet Carnett
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
January 27, 2005 – 2:30 p.m.
Minutes
Attendees:
Dr. Paul Cuddy, Thomas Brenneman, Forest Weddle, Tim Cole,
Geoff Gerling, and Dr. Charles Wurrey
Absent:Joan Dean, Mel Tyler, Larry Gates and Mary Lou Hines
The meeting began with the approval of the December minutes after one typographical error in the
minutes was uncovered and corrected. (All minutes are maintained in the ITC folder on Exchange)
Follow-up Items from December meeting:
1. Blackboard Assessment group
Committee members spoke about the Blackboard demonstration that was presented on 1/26/05.
Blackboard and Brownstone Research Groups gave presentations on Blackboard use. The first
presentation was Jonathan Abrams, Sales and Marketing Rep. from Brownstone. When integrated with
Blackboard, the EDU tools are listed in the Blackboard course control panel in the “Course Tools”
area. Abrams was somewhat limited in what he could demonstrate about Blackboard integration due to
Blackboard server problems, but did say that you could create an EDU test or assignment from within
the course control panel, and that deploying it into a content area required only one extra step.
The Second presentation was Tracy Farley, and she bravely offered to personally help UMKC people
who cannot find an exact analogue in Blackboard for a WebCT function on which they had come to
rely. Farley demonstrated some of the new features which (probably) would be a part of Bb
Application Pack 3, (hopefully) coming out in April 2005. Features such as, multiple language
support, small print in the slide made it look as if languages with special character support may not
initially be available to sub-premium versions of Blackboard. There will be a syllabus creation wizard
– template to create an HTML syllabus. Also several new question types such as Likert Scale,
Jumbled Sentences, Multiple Blank, Hotspot, File Upload, Either/Or, Short Answer (free form, limited
length), Multiple Choice/ FIB combo, etc. The calculated formula and calculated numeric types seem
to correspond to the “algorithmic” type. Also, students can skip questions in the question-by-question
release type of assessment and easily identify and return to incomplete questions at the end.
Other new features: Expanding course menu, ability to set null grade in Blackboard grade book,
adaptive release, performance dashboard (allows instructor to see what students have viewed), ability
of students to mark “read” things they’ve reviewed, notice on front page of new message board
postings.
Blackboard Inc will be sending a team of experts to UMKC shortly to help rectify the problems that
have occurred recently with Blackboard at UMKC.
2. ITC Membership
Five faculty positions on the committee will exist and the UMKC faculty have been messaged by
Jakob Waterborg of the Faculty Senate (1/24/05) and asked to submit nominations of faculty qualified
and interested in serving on the ITC. There was discussion about the possibility of adding one or more
additional community representatives to ITC (it was suggested that it might be advantageous to have a
UMKC community alumni on the committee). One of the committee members stated that the CIO of
Cerner expressed interest in joining the ITC. Other possibilities might include a representative from a
local telecommunications firm, e.g., Sprint.
Since there are going to be new members joining the ITC committee, the group discussed rules
governing attendance. The issue of erratic member attendance at ITC was taken up at the December
meeting and the committee agreed that the ITC should adopt a policy requiring that members attend at
least 75% of all regularly scheduled meetings to maintain a seat on the ITC. Members unable to attend
should identify a qualified replacement to cover their absence when participation is not possible
(scheduled class in conflict with an ITC meeting). One member suggested that a reminder notice be
sent or better yet, a reminder phone call be made prior to each regularly scheduled meeting.
3. Workstation Replacement
Presently dollars allocated to workstation replacement are divided and provided to the Vice
Chancellors who allocate funds. Problem occurs when departments elect not to use these funds for
workstation replacement choosing instead to continue using older computers which may not be under
warranty or current software and patches and virus protection.
Tom proposed to the ITC that it would be more efficient for Information Services to have a fund
established for workstation replacement and to be held responsible for administering workstation
replacement across the campus –they would do all hardware ordering. All workstation replacement
funds for the campus should be centralized in IS. Some of the benefits cited by Tom for this approach
include: (1) IS would be able to track all computer purchases (verifying that all workstation
replacement funds were used exclusively for this purpose), (2) IS would maintain all computers under
warranty, (3) IS would be better able to stay within the University guidelines and, (4) IS would be able
to hold vendors to a consistent standards for quality. The ITC agreed that the proposal made good
business sense and recommends that this proposal be brought forward for consideration and approval
4. Acceptable Use Policy
Geoff Gerling reported to the committee that a meeting has taken place between members of the
UMKC committee working on an Acceptable Use Policy and UM System administration (Ralph
Caruso and Steve Lehmkuhle). Creation of an acceptable use policy extends beyond the UMKC
campus and touches all campuses. Geoff did not anticipate much further activity on this initiative at
this time.
New Business for the January meeting
1. Policy Review
The committee decided to review and update one policy at every other meeting. Following is the list
of policies which Tom believes should be reviewed by ITC.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Phone usage (desktop/long distance usage)
IT purchases with procards (internet services, cell phones and PDS’s)
Server use (hosting non-UMKC web sites, etc.)
Wireless Network Usage
Software on UMKC owned Computers (not removing SMS etc…and user add on software after
installation)
Student Lab Computer Usage
Network Guidelines (Non-UMKC Hubs and Wireless Systems)
Student Residence Hall Computer Usage
Asset Disposal – Computers/Monitors/Printers
2. Sunshine Law (handout http://www.ago.mo.gov/sunshinelaw/sunshinelaw.htm)
The committee discussed the new “Sunshine Law”
http://www.ago.mo.gov/sunshinelaw/sunshinelaw/htm, and how it may impact the university. One
consequence of the Sunshine Law is that it is possible for interested parties to request access to specific
email from UMKC personnel which satisfies criteria outlined in the Sunshine Law. Tom believes that
UMKC should have a policy in place which describes how IS should respond to such requests of this
nature since such guidance is presently lacking. The committee felt that this issue went beyond
UMKC to all campuses and that a comprehensive policy was required. It was hoped that a member
from UM Legal could clarify rules governing the procedure which should be followed in regards to the
Sunshine Law until a UM System policy was forthcoming. Members were unsure how students are
impacted by the Sunshine Law.
3. Student Computer Lab funding (handout = Dr. Wurrey email of 1/18/2005)
The topic of funding for student computer labs was brought to the ITC by Dr. Charles Wurrey for
consideration. Historically a percentage of student computer fee money was allocated to the various
departments for their own use (email contained a historical record of A&S allocation in FY2002, 2003,
2004) , but the Board of Curators recently changed the intent and use of student computer fee money –
all student computer fee money at UMKC is held centrally for support of IS infrastructure across the
campus. Dr. Wurrey expressed concern that unless this policy was reconsidered and funds reallocated
to support departmental computer labs the hardware and software would rapidly become outdated and
ultimately instruction and the students would suffer. Dr. Wurrey believes that UMKC administration
should be addressing this issue immediately and requested that ITC support his recommendation. The
ITC discussed this issue at length and agreed that funds were needed to support student computer labs
AND to upgrade networking infrastructure on campus. ITC members hoped that Dr. Osborne would
be available to attend an ITC meeting in the near future (perhaps at a special meeting) to discuss these
issues.
Posting of ITC agenda on the IS Webpage
The committee agreed that the ITC agendas, not the detailed minutes, be
made available on the IS webpage.
Next ITC Meeting
The next ITC meeting will be held on 24 February at 2:30 in the AC.
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
February 24 – 2:30 -4:30 p.m.
Minutes
Attendees:
Paul Cuddy, Thomas Brenneman, Forest Weddle, Geoff Gerling, Charles Wurrey,
Cynthia Amyot, Joan Dean, Gerald Wyckoff, Paul Rudy
Absent:Mel Tyler, Larry Gates, Mary Lou Hines, Roger Pick, Robin Hamilton, Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox,
Tim Cole
The meeting began with the approval of the January 27, 2005 minutes (All minutes are maintained in
the ITC folder on Exchange at: All Public Folders \ Kansas City \ Committees \ ITC). Tom
Brenneman will verify that all new ITC members have full access to public ITC folder.
New faculty members recently appointed to the ITC were welcomed. Due to short notice of the
appointments to ITC by the Faculty Senate, some new faculty members were unable to attend the
February meeting. It was suggested that a survey be taken of all current members to identify a
preferred meeting time, since at least one new faculty member has a recurring conflict with the
Thursday meeting date (this survey will be sent on 2/28/05 with a request for a 7 day turnaround)
A list of the new faculty members includes:
ƒ Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox (College of Arts and Sciences)
ƒ Gerald Wyckoff (School of Biological Sciences)
ƒ Cindy Amyot, (School of Dentistry)
ƒ Paul Rudy, (Conservatory)
ƒ Roger Pick (Bloch School)
Follow-up Items from December meeting:
2. Blackboard Assessment group
Minutes for the January Blackboard assessment group were circulated for review by ITC members.
This information was shared to keep members aware of this ongoing activity. (Copies of the minutes
from the Blackboard group are available in the ITC folder on Exchange All Public Folders \ Kansas
City \ Committees \ ITC \Blackboard Subcommittee)
3. Request for participation of the Provost at an upcoming ITC meeting to address the funding issue
related to academic unit specific student computer labs.
Paul Cuddy reported that correspondence exchanged with Provost on 2/14/05 was unsuccessful in
arranging for his participation at the February meeting. The Provost felt that the issues being raised
belong in the CIO’s office and since the ITC is advisory to the CIO, he felt it was more appropriate for
Dr. Hines to address these issues. Dr. Hines was unable to attend the February 24 meeting but she
hopes to have the information necessary to address this issue ready for the March ITC meeting.
New Business for the February meeting
Institutional Repositories: Scholarship and Research (Joan Dean, Marilyn Carbonell, Brenda
Dingley). (PDF file attachment of the PowerPoint presentation shown at the meeting is included with
these minutes).
A 45 minute presentation was presented by Marilyn and Brenda and it addressed the following key
points: definition of an institutional repository, benefits to the user and to the UMKC of developing a
repository. ITC members were encouraged to review some of the existing web resources which are
conveniently available at: http://www.arl.org/training/webcast/ir/resources.html The work of a
respected authority on IR, Susan Gibbons, is also available at:
http://docushare.lib.rochester.edu/docushare/dsweb/View/Collection-2193 and contains 7 PDF
documents dealing with IR systems. Marilyn and Brenda concluded their presentation by discussing
some possible next steps which are outlined in the final slide of their PowerPoint presentation.
Following the presentation there was 15 minute discussion between ITC members and the discussants.
Some of the points which were raised in the discussion included:
ƒ There seemed to be some agreement in the room that a focus around student-oriented materials
would make sense at UMKC.
ƒ Cost implications for an IR on campus were raised and possibility of external funding to offset
some of these initial startup costs was mentioned.
ƒ Hardware requirements to support and IR at UMC was raised by Tom Brenneman.
It was agreed that ITC members would share the PowerPoint presentation within their individual
schools and forward comments and questions directly to Joan Dean. On behalf of the ITC, Paul Cuddy
thanked Marilyn and Brenda for their interesting presentation.
Next ITC Meeting
The next ITC meeting will be scheduled in late March. The specific date will be selected pending the
outcome of the survey which was sent on 2/28/05
ITC (Information Technology Council) Meeting
April 8, 2005
Minutes
Attendees:
Tim Cole, Paul Cuddy, Andy Goodenow (representing Mel Tyler), Justin Malyn
(representing Tom Brenneman), Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox, Forest Weddle, Charles Wurrey,
Absent:Cynthia Amyot, Joan Dean, Larry Gates, Geoff Gerling, Mary Lou Hines, Roger Pick, Paul
Rudy, Gerald Wyckoff
The meeting began with the approval of the February 24 minutes (All minutes are maintained in the
ITC folder on Exchange at: All Public Folders \ Kansas City \ Committees \ ITC). It was announced
that Tom Brenneman was unable to attend the meeting because of serious illness (Justin Malyn
attended in his absence). Mary Lou Hines was unable to attend the meeting because of family illness
which came on suddenly. Because of these absences the committee agreed to follow an abbreviated
agenda -the Role of the ITC would be discussed but formal discussion of the strategic plan and the list
of policies for review would be deferred until the May 13 meeting.
Follow-up Items from February meeting:
1. Acceptable meeting times have been determined which work for the new faculty members of the
committee. However, this schedule will likely need to be revised with each new semester and a
request for times will be distributed prior to the May 13, 2005 meeting. Discussion also took place at
the meeting about the possibility of a more abbreviated summer schedule –two meetings instead of
three.
New Business for the February meeting
1. Policy Review – A significant role that the ITC assumes is to participate in the review of IS
policy and procedures. Paul Cuddy presented the ITC with a draft outline for the review of IS
policies and consensus emerged that this plan was acceptable (At the May ITC meeting, a
discussion of the prioritized schedule of policies for review will be taken up –list of policies is
attached at the end of the minutes). There was agreement that all ITC members would
participate in the review and volunteers for specific policies are encouraged –members not
expressing a preference will be appointed). A summary of the plan adopted follows:
a. IS staff will undertake the initial review or development of a policy and present the
draft document for ITC review;
b. Following formal ITC review, the draft may be accepted with minor or no change or
referred to a workgroup for further modification;
i. If necessary, the ITC workgroup will consist of at least 1 ITC faculty member, 1
ITC staff member, and 1 IS staff member involved in the development of the
initial draft
ii. If at all possible, the workgroup will submit their revision to the ITC at the next
regularly scheduled ITC meeting
c. The ITC reviews the revision and approves or refers the draft back to the workgroup
2. Role of the ITC – A draft was distributed to the ITC for review which outlines ITC
responsibilities. Significant discussion took place with additions and deletions to the draft.
The ITC agreed on the follow (edits appear underlined):
ƒ
The ITC reports directly to the CIO and serves in an advisory capacity. The ITC exists
to:
ƒ Advise on current IS policies and procedures,
ƒ Assist in the formulation and continual development of IS strategic plans,
ƒ Recommends directions and priorities for information technology in a
timely manner;
ƒ Monitor, critique, and evaluate all major technological initiatives with campuswide IS implications
o Advise on campus-wide technological coordination, ensuring common and mutually
supportive approaches to technology within and between all schools and
departments,
ƒ Advise on priorities for information technology investments, as identified in
the IS Strategic Plan
o Function as a search committee for interviewing a prospective new Associate CIO
and passing recommendations for that position to the CIO,
o Support and foster faculty and student endeavors in teaching and research,
especially the use of resources in the library, archives, and academic computing
o Provide recommendations and technical advice on budgetary and staffing issues
related to technology,
o Assist the Associate CIO with methods for obtaining user input and feedback,
o The ITC may establish sub-committees of either a standing or ad hoc nature.
Membership of sub-committees shall not be restricted to persons who are members
of ITC when it is desirable to seek special expertise and experience
Next ITC Meeting
The next ITC meeting will be scheduled on May 13, 2005 at 10:00 in the ADC